FOSSIL FOUND

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21160, 9 July 1940, Page 2

FOSSIL FOUND

PREHISTORIC ANIMAL EMBEDDED IN QUARRY ROCK (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) GREYMOUTH, Tuesday An interesting discovery, which may prove of great interest to scientists, was made in the Greymouth Harbour Board’s limestone quarry at Cobden. After the splitting, by a powder charge, of a 1000-ton block of stone which had been lying on the quarry face for some months the complete fossil remains of some prehistoric animal were discovered. Though the blast destroyed some of the fossil, it was still possible to follow the outline of the fossilized skeleton, but it is not considered to bear marked resemblance to any present-day animal. The backbone and ribs are clearly traceable in the limestone, and are somewhat like those of a whale, but they are surmounted by other fossilized bone which indicates that the animal, when alive, had shoulders and limbs. It is believed possible that the fossil is that of either a prehistoric whale or some land animal of an early period in the world’s history. The block of stone which contained the fossil was brought down from one of the top benches of the quarry by a blast of about five months ago, and till a few days ago had remained intact. It was the largest single block ever obtained in the quarry and was composed of limestone. The fossil was embedded almost in the centre, covering about 12 feet, which gives some indication of the size of the animal. The fossilized backbone is between six and nine inches thick and the libs are about two or three inches broad. Thp rock containing the greater portion of the fossil is being kept in the quarry and should provide scientists with interesting data on the period when the limestone of the coastal ranges on the West Coast was formed, and on the type of animal Then in the Southern Hemisphere.